A/N: Okay! finally, I can post the next chapter! This one's pretty long...don't expect another chapter quite so long for a while now, because they'll probably be pretty short, compared to this. Enjoy guys...and let's see if we can get two reviews from two people again!!

Chapter Seven: Salem School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Dumbledore raised his arms during dinner a week later. The hall fell silent, and he began to speak. “I have just received news from my cousin, Headmistress Kingman, from Salem School. They will be arriving here tomorrow.”

Everyone turned to their neighbour and whispered excitedly to them. Well, not really whispered, more like shouted.

“Silence!” Dumbledore called, and everyone was silent. “Now, due to the fact that they will be arriving tomorrow, there will be no classes.” He raised his hands and frowned at the few students who dared to talk. “Now, your Heads of House know everything, and they will be explaining it to you in your common rooms after I am done here. So, that being said, everyone is to return directly to their common rooms. Dismissed.”

“Oh, I’m so excited!” gushed Luna as she got up from the Gryffindor table. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Ron!” She stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek, then skipped off to join the other Ravenclaws as the headed to their common room.

Ron chuckled, and watched her go. Then he turned around and found Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Dean, and they made their way to the common room.

***

“Alright, then,” said Professor McGonagall once every Gryffindor student was present in the common room. “As you know, Salem School is arriving tomorrow. I want you all to give them a warm Gryffindor welcome.” She looked down at the sheet of parchment she was holding in her hand and smiled slightly. “Ah. Right. What you probably didn’t know, was that the founders of Hogwarts also created Salem.

“They spent their time traveling between schools, making sure everything was going accordingly. Therefore, since they were also the founders of Salem, Salem uses the same house names as we do here at Hogwarts.

“Because we want you all to become good friends, each of your dormitories has been enlarged to hold ten people, not just five. It works out well because Salem also takes the same amount of students that Hogwarts does.

I think that is all. We will be having a feast tomorrow night, and after that,” she glanced at Ron and Hermione who nodded, “there will be a prefect meeting in the meeting room. Now, you can all go upstairs, and I suggest that you have a good nights sleep, since tomorrow will be a big day.” Professor McGonagall left the common room, and everyone started talking.

Ginny yawed. “I think I’m going to go to bed. I’m beat, and I want to be wide awake for tomorrow.” She kissed Dean goodnight on the cheek, waved to the others, and went up to her dorm.

It was not so different than it had been before. It was twice the size, with five more beds and wardrobes, but other than that it was the same. Ginny found her bed easily, it was the only one not made, and after changing into her pyjamas she fell fast asleep.

***

Back down in the common room, Harry and Dean said goodnight to Ron and Hermione, and they each went their own ways to their dorms.

***

The next morning, Hermione woke to sun filling her room. She sighed, smiled, and stretched, and then got up to look outside. It had apparently snowed over night, and the castle grounds looked like a winter wonderland. It was the perfect day for having no classes. Everyone would be outside, taking advantage of the newly fallen snow.

Hermione got up, got dressed, and went down to breakfast where all of her friends were already waiting, Luna included.

“Hurry up and eat, Hermione,” Ron said through mouthfuls of oatmeal. “We’re going to go out and have a snowball fight.”

Hermione chortled to herself as she kissed Harry and sat down beside him. She grabbed a piece of toast and buttered it.

“I really can’t wait for Salem to get here,” gushed Ginny. “You guys should’ve seen the rooms, they were huge!”

“Yeah,” agreed Dean.

Once everyone was done eating, they went to their own dorms to get ready to go outside. They all changed into muggle clothes (jeans and the sweaters Mrs. Weasley had knit for them from past Christmases), put warming charms on themselves so they wouldn’t get too cold, and met outside.

“Okay, teams,” said Harry once they were all gathered. Neville and Seamus had decided to join them aswell.

“I vote girls against boys!” cried Ginny.

“You think you can beat us?” laughed Ron.

“Uh, yeah,” said Ginny mater-of-factly.

“Ha! Yeah right. Okay, fine, girls against guys,” said Ron.

“But wait, there are only three girls and five guys. We get Neville,” said Luna, grabbing his arm and pulling him over to their side.

Ron shrugged. “Okay, ten minutes to get ready. GO!” he shouted, and everyone ran to their own side.

Ten minutes later, snowball after snowball after snowball was fired, until Ginny had Ron in a headlock and he surrendered. Laughing, they decided to go in, change, and have some lunch.

***

At four o’clock in the afternoon, McGonagall’s voice rang through the halls of Hogwarts, announcing that the students of Salem School had arrived.

Hermione and Harry, who were in Hermione’s room making out, sprang apart, fixed their hair (well, Hermione did anyways) and walked into the common room where Ron, Luna, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, and Neville sat.

“Let’s go, guys! Oh, I’m so excited to meet them!” Hermione gushed as they ran out of the common room.

***

The students of Salem School arrived the way that the Hogwarts students would if they were coming to school at the start of the year or coming back from Christmas holidays. They came by train, and then by carriages pulled by invisible horses, which were actually Thestralls, though you could only see them if you had seen death, so not many people could.

They were lead up the path by their Headmistress, Professor Kingman, who ran to Dumbledore to great him.

There were as many students exactly as there was in Hogwarts. Dumbledore told the Hogwarts students to go to their dormitories to await their new roommates, while the students from Salem went to the Great Hall. Dumbledore beckoned Ron, Hermione, and the other prefects to the Great Hall as well.

Ron and Hermione said goodbye to the others, and made their way to the Great Hall.

Once there, they stood with the teachers, Dumbledore, and Headmistress Kingman while the students from Salem took seats at their house tables.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” beamed Dumbledore to the new students. “You will be rooming with the children in your year and house. The prefects,” me motioned to the prefects standing beside him, “will show you there after I am done. We have one rule that must be obeyed here at Hogwarts, and that is that the Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden.” There were a few sniggers when this was said, but Dumbledore paid no attention to them.

“You will attend the classes you have been taking at Salem. I trust that, even if you are ahead, you will not miss any.

“Tonight we will be having a welcome feast, so I encourage you all to join us for that. Also, in two weeks time we will be having a Christmas Ball, so any who wish to stay for that are welcomed. The ball is for fourth years and up, although years one to three may go if an older student asks them.

“And lastly, in two days, four professional Quidditch teams will be joining us to coach our teams. We will be having a tournament at the end of the year, and Quidditch captains, if you have any questions, feel free to ask the captains of the Hogwarts house teams.

“And now, I believe that is all. Prefects,” he turned to the prefects standing on his left, “Please show the Salem students in your house to their common rooms and dorms.”

***

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“Okay, so, this is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room,” said Hermione as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. “The password is Chudley Cannons, since that’s the Quidditch team that will be coaching Gryffindor this year.” The Fat Lady nodded to all of them, smiled, and swung her portrait forward.

The Salem students and prefects entered the common room. “Okay,” said Brianna, taking the floor from Hermione, “boys on your right, girls on your left. Your dormitory will have your names on the door.”

The students raced to see their new dorms, until only Ron, Hermione, and two students that looked to be their age stood there.

“You should go and see your dorm,” said Hermione, smiling.

“But we’re head boy and girl. You don’t honestly expect us to share with the others in our year, do you?” said the girl. She had straight black hair, the ends dyed hot pink, that reached just above her shoulders with side-swept bangs. Her skin was tanned and her eyes were dark purple, and she wore heavy makeup.

“Oh,” said Hermione, and she looked at Ron who shrugged. Were they supposed to share their dorms?

Just as Hermione was about to say something, Professor McGonagall walked in. “Oh good,” she said, heaving a sigh of relief, “you’re still here. The head boy and girl’s dorms have been added to your common room,” she said, looking at Ron and Hermione. “I trust you can show them the way?”

They nodded, and McGonagall left, leaving the four of them standing there.

“You might as well tell us your names, since we’ll be working together the rest of this year,” said the Salem head girl.

Hermione blushed. “This is Ron, and I’m Hermione.”

“I’m Adiana and this is Adrian,” she said.

“Nice to meet you. Now common, you probably want to see your rooms,” said Hermione, and they were off.

***

That night there was a feast to welcome the students from Salem. The tables were all twice the size so that they could hold twice as many students. There was lots of talk about meeting new people, and late that night, after house welcome parties in the common rooms, everyone went to sleep full and quite happy.

R&R, please!!

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Okay, here's chapter eight! This one's pretty short...just a little bit of fluff, but dont worry! The next chapter wont be anything BUT fluff!! Pretty much...

Enjoy!

Chapter Eight: The Return of Viktor Krum

Two days after the students from Salem arrived, a Sunday, to be exact, four Quidditch teams arrived.

Shouts of praise and screams of marriage proposals greeted them. They signed autographs on their way in, and were then showed their dormitories which were on the highest floor of the school (the floor with the least classrooms).

After another feast of delicious food, everyone went to bed happy and full, looking forward to the next day.

***

“Hi, Harry Potter, captain of the Hogwarts Gryffindor team,” Harry said, sticking his hand out to the captain of the Salem Gryffindor team.

“Branton Coors,” said the other boy, shaking Harry’s hand.

Just then, the Chudley Cannons walked onto the pitch, and Ron yelped with glee. The captain introduced himself as Dragomir Gorgovitch, and then introduced the rest of the team.

Harry and Branton introduced their teams, and then they just had a normal practice, the three captains and the members of the Chudley Cannons on the ground, shouting plays and suggestions to the players.

Two hours later, their first practice ended, and they all headed to change. All except for Ron, who ran up to the Chudley Cannons and asked for their autographs. He got every single one.

***

Harry shoved the door open, walked in, and slammed it shout, then fell onto Hermione’s bed and let out a groan.

“Harry! How was practice?” she said, throwing her book aside.

“HORRIBLE!” Harry cried into her comforter.

“Shh…not so loud! Ron’ll hear you!”

He lifted his head and moved onto the bed so that he was sitting across from her.

“They are the WORST team ever!” Harry whisper-shouted. “They plays the suggest…ugh!” he groaned.

Hermione sighed. “Harry, don’t think of that now. You know your team is great, it won’t matter if they’re taught by the Chudley Cannons…you’ll still win. I know it.”

“No we won’t,” Harry mumbled.

“Here,” Hermione said seductively, “let me take your mind off of it.” She pushed him back onto the pillows and kissed him long and deep.

***

“Ugh, where is she?” Hermione mumbled to herself as she waited outside the Great Hall later that night after dinner. She was waiting for Brianna. They were going to talk about preparations for the Christmas Ball.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall, and turned to look. “It’s about time you got…” she stopped before she finished her sentence. It wasn’t Brianna. “Viktor!” Hermione cried.

“Herm-own-ninny!” Viktor Krum called to her as he walked faster down the hall. “I have been looking all over for you!” he pulled her into a bone crushing hug and kissed her cheeks.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you!” Hermione said, as politely as she could. She was that excited to see him.

“It’s so good to see you too!” he said in his thick Bulgarian accent.

“How…how have you been?”

“Oh, very good, very good,” and her proceeded to tell her about beating the Irish team in Quidditch two weeks ago.

Hermione just nodded, not taking in a word he was saying. Just as he was about to start talking about the after party, Hermione noticed a girl with blonde hair walking down the hall towards them.

“Brianna!” she cried, relieved to have an excuse to leave. “I’m sorry, Viktor, but I really have to go now. It was nice to see you…maybe we could talk later?” she asked as she slowly made her way down the hall to where Brianna had stopped.

“Alright,” Viktor said somewhat sadly.

“Oh thank god you got here,” Hermione whispered to Brianna as they walked down the hall. “I couldn’t stand another second with him!”

“What?” shrieked Brianna, and she got shushed by Hermione. “Sorry, what? You ditched a very hot, famous Quidditch player…for me?!”

“Yeah. I think I’m going to go to bed. We’ll have a prefect meeting tomorrow or something,” Hermione said, as she raced away to her dorm.

“Okay,” Brianna called, somewhat confusedly.

***

Hermione swung her door open and then slammed it shout, much the same way Harry had earlier that day. Harry, just happened to be sitting on her bed, reading the book she had been reading earlier.

“Harry!” she cried, and flung her arms around his neck, pressing her lips hard to his.

“Wow,” said Harry after a minute. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” he grinned.

“I ran into Viktor Krum!”

Harry’s grin turned into a frown. “Oh…if he didn’t anything to you I’m going to pummel him into the ground, dig him up and throw him to the Giant Squid!”

Hermione laughed. “No, I just said hi to him…but he wants to meet some time tomorrow to talk. I don’t want to meet him tomorrow!” she cried, flinging herself into Harry’s arms and kissing him again.

Again, Harry broke the kiss. “You don’t have to go, Hermione,” he said.

“Oh, shut up and just kiss me, Harry!”

Please R&R!!

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yepp..I just finished the first part of the next chapter. It's pretty long, actually. But I wont be posting it for a bit....I want another review first!! But anyways, the next chapter is ALL fluff. And I think I'm gonna change a little, cuz I only have Harry/Hermione...there's no Ginny/Dean or Ron/Luna or another couple that gets introduced in that chapter

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A/N: okay, here is chapter nine...part one! Yes, chapter nine is TWO parts! meaning it was waaaaay too long to put into one chapter. Also, this chapter (both parts) are purely fluff. Which is good, right? Part two will probably be up tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy, and please review!!

Chapter Nine, Part One: Preparations, Meetings, and Questions

“Hi,” Luna said the next morning to the girl in the bed beside her. She had woken up late, and her and the other girl were the last in their dorm.

“Good morning,” the other smiled. “I’m Theia, by the way, in case you forgot from last night.”

Luna smiled. “I’m Luna.”

Theia was a pretty girl, in a quirky sort of way. Like Luna. She had long, straight, white-blonde hair, and enormous blue eyes. She was sitting on her bed in her school robes which were practically identical to Luna’s.

“Hold on, let me get ready and then we can go down to breakfast. I’ll introduce you to my friends. They’re in Gryffindor.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, Luna and Theia entered the Great Hall together. Luna had described everyone perfectly to Theia while she was getting ready.

“So, that must be…Ron, right?” she said, pointing to the red-headed boy. “The one you have a crush on?”

“Shh!” Luna giggled as they got closer. “Hey, guys! This is Theia, one of my new roommates. I thought she could sit with us,” she said, sitting down beside Ron. Theia sat beside her. Luna introduced everyone, even though Theia already know who they were.

Theia took a liking to Neville, and, since she was also interested in plants, herbology, healing and such, they talked like they were old friends and hit it off.

***

“Okay, welcome to the Christmas Ball meeting,” Hermione said. She stood at the front of the room with Ron, Brianna, Adiana, and Adrian. Everyone went around the room and introduced themselves, since the prefects from Salem were present too.

“I think it would be good if the Salem prefects paired up with the Hogwarts prefects in their year in their house,” said Adiana. Hermione had filled her and Adrian in on everything that was going on about the ball. Hermione nodded, and people switched chairs so that they were sitting with their group.

“Okay, and now I’ll give the floor to Brianna,” Hermione said, and the heads stepped aside.

Brianna smiled. “Alrighty,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulders. “So, last time we split into groups…” and she proceeded to tell them what they were doing. “So…Blake and Ebony? How’s it going with booking the Weird Sisters?” she turned to the sixth year Slytherins.

“Already done,” said Blake smugly.

Brianna beamed, and Hermione put a checkmark beside “band” on the black board. “Okay,” said Brianna. “Food. How’s that coming?” she said, turning to the Hufflepuff and Slytherin fifth years.

“We have a list. We just need to acquire the food,” said Evangeline, the Hufflepuff fifth year.

“And you’ll do that this coming Saturday.” Brianna looked at Hermione who nodded. “Okay, Saturday we’ll be going to Hogsmeade to get the things we need for the Ball, and then Sunday will be a Hogsmeade trip for everybody.

“Okay, invitations,” she turned to the Ravenclaws. “You’ll have to start making more, since we’ll have more than double the people,” she said. “Can I see one? Just to make sure we all like it.”

The sixth year Ravenclaw girl, Athena, got up and handed one to her. Brianna read it over. “Perfect,” she beamed, and passed it to the heads, who nodded.

“Okay, decorations will be the hardest part. I was thinking we should turn the Great Hall into a sort of ice palace—”

“I have an idea,” said Adiana. Brianna nodded for her to continue. “Why don’t we do an ice palace like you said, and have ice blue tablecloths and chair coverings, with icicles hanging from everything. And lots of Christmas trees, all decorated with the same shade of blue and silver ornaments.”

Brianna smiled. “I like that. Okay, so I’ll give you each a list of decorations to buy on Saturday,” she said. “And…that’s it! Hermione, anything else?”

“Um…no, I don’t think so. You guys can go!”

***

Everyone was excited about the Christmas Ball, even the Quidditch players who were also invited. People were pairing up left and right…after all, they only had a week and a half to find a date.

Hermione met Viktor Krum at his table for lunch the next day, as promised. She sat down across from him.

“Hi,” she smiled politely.

“Hello, Herm-own-ninny,” he said, getting up and kissing her cheeks again. Hermione blushed. Why was it he could make her feel this way?!

***

Harry watched Hermione and Krum from the Gryffindor table. He frowned and clenched his fists together when Krum kissed Hermione’s cheeks.

“Harry,” said Ginny in a calming voice, “calm down. You know she’s over Krum and that she’s in love with you.”

Harry, still fuming, sat down. He proceeded to eat his lunch, until someone came up and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to look into the smiling faces of Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson.

Harry dropped his fork and stood up. “Hey! What are you guys doing here?” he said, shaking Oliver’s hand and hugging Angelina.

“We play! I signed onto Puddlemere United, and Angie’s on the Holyhead Harpies,” Oliver said, using a nickname for Angelina that Harry had never heard before. “Believe me, it’s annoying to coach the other team houses,” he said, grimacing.

Harry laughed. “It was really nice to see you guys, but I should probably get to class,” he said as he noticed Ron and Neville waiting for him.

“Alright.” Viktor look over at Harry who was standing a little ways away, and turned back to Hermione. “You should go. Harry doesn’t look to happy.” Hermione stood up, and Viktor kissed her again, making her blush.

“Bye,” she whispered, and ran off to Harry.

“Hey,” she said when she got to him.

Harry didn’t say anything. They walked to Potions class in silence.

***

By the end of the day, Hermione was fed up with Harry giving her the silent treatment. She pushed him into her dorm, ignoring the questioning looks she was getting from Ron, Luna, Theia, Neville, Adiana, and Adrian who were sitting around the fireplace.

“Okay, Harry, enough is enough. What is your problem?!” she yelled after putting a charm on the door so that no one could hear them.

“My problem?! What’s Krum’s problem? You didn’t tell him we were dating did you?!”

“As a matter of fact, I did!”

“So then why was he kissing you?!”

“It was a friendly kiss, Harry! Get over it!”

“Get over it? I can’t get over it! He KISSED you!”

“But it meant NOTHING to ME Harry! I don’t have any feelings whatsoever for Viktor!”

“Sure,” Harry muttered.

“You know what? You’re acting just like Ron did in fourth year!”

“Yeah, except I have an actual excuse! YOU’RE MY BLOODY GIRLFRIEND!”

Hermione stared at him open mouth. “Then trust your BLOODY girlfriend and believe me when I say I love YOU, not KRUM!” she shouted, using his last name for the first time in years.

Harry and Hermione just stood there, breathing hard, looking each other in the eyes. Then Harry rushed towards Hermione in two large strides, pushed her down onto her bed, and kissed her. She responded by opening her mouth and kissing him back, shoving her hands in his hair.

They “made up” for a long time.

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A/N: Chapter nine, part two! A chapter combined of nothing but fluff! Enjoy!

Chapter Nine, Part Two: Preparations, Meetings, and Questions

Saturday passed in a whirlwind tizzy, and soon it was Sunday, and everyone was shopping for the ball. The girls went with the girls, and the guys went with the guys.

Hermione, Adiana, Luna, Theia, Ginny, and Brianna made their way down one of the more empty streets. There were a few less popular clothing stores on that street.

“Come on, let’s go in here,” Hermione said. She and Ginny had been in here before, and they knew the shop owner, Celesta, a past Head Girl of Hogwarts. The girls entered the shop, which was empty.

“Hi, Celesta!” called Hermione. A young blonde witch came down the stairs at the back, a smile plastered to her face.

“Hey!” she called to them, coming over and hugging Hermione and Ginny. “How are you girls?”

“Really good,” said Ginny. “Celesta, these are our friends Luna and Brianna, and these are our other friends from Salem Adiana, and Theia. Guys, this is Celesta. They’re all looking for dresses too. Well, all of them except for Brianna, she already has hers.” Brianna had asked her mom, an editor for Teen Witch Weekly to order her an extremely expensive dress from Paris.

“Nice to meet you girls.” Celesta smiled. “Hermione, Ginny, I put some dresses aside for you, like you asked. They’re by the fitting rooms.” Hermione and Ginny giggled and went to look. Celesta turned to Adiana and looked her up and down. “Darling, I have the perfect dress for you. Come,” she led her to a rack and pulled off a short black dress.

“I love it!” gushed Adiana, feeling the fabric of the dress. It was a halter dress, and the straps were thick ribbon. The dress was open at the back, and was laced up with red ribbon. The top was tight, and the bottom puffed out. There was a big red ribbon on the side that tied into a bow. “Can I try it on?”

“Of course, darling!” Celesta said, showing Adiana to a fitting room.

Hermione and Ginny seemed to know what they were doing, and were already trying on dresses, so Celesta went to help Luna and Theia.

“Do you girls need any help?” Celesta asked.

Theia looked scared. “I’ve never needed a dress like this. There’s so many of them…I don’t know where to start!”

Celesta laughed. “It’s alright, hon, I’ll help you. Why don’t you try these?” she went over to a rack and picked out a midnight blue dress and red dress, both the same style. They were very short, and would probably come to only mid-thight. They were strapless, with a ribbon at the top and a bow at the side on the top. The bottom part was scrunched up at the side and held with a little diamond pin.

“I like the blue one,” Theia said. Celesta showed her a fitting room, and she tried it on.

Just then, Adiana came out of the fitting room with her dress on. It fit perfectly. “I love it!” she cried, hugging Celesta.

Celesta laughed. “Okay, take it off and meet me up at the front desk.” She then went to check on Luna who was staring at a lemon yellow dress.

“Good choice,” Celesta said, coming up behind her. The dress was lemon yellow, v-necked, and had black lace at the neckline and hem. The middle was scrunched together. “Go try it on,” she said, showing her a room.

Theia and Ginny came out at the same time. Theia’s dress was perfect, as was Ginny’s, which was emerald green. It looked somewhat like a 60’s dress. It was a halter dress, and the top was tight. The bottom flared out and finished just above the knee. Celesta smiled at them as Hermione came out.

Her dress was definitely the fanciest. As head girl, naturally, she had to have the best dress of all. It was dark purple and v-necked, with thicker spaghetti straps. The top was tight and the bottom puffed out and went to the floor. It was sort of princess style.

Everyone was speechless.

“Is it really that bad? Because I had a backup dress…” Hermione started.

“Hermione…you look like a princess,” said Luna. Everyone else just nodded, at a loss for words.

Hermione sighed, relieve. “Oh thank god. I love this dress.”

***

“Harry just get the black ones,” Ron said, sighing. They had been in the store for and hour and a half. Ron, Adrian, Neville, Seamus, and Dean had all just gotton black ones, but Harry couldn’t decide on black or navy blue ones.

“But what if Hermione’s dress is black?” he asked nervously.

“Knowing Hermione, it won’t be,” Ron reassured him. “Now, common, buy those and lets go to the Three Broomsticks…I’m starved!”

***

The girls had just sat down in the Three Broomsticks with their butterbeer when the guys walked in. They waved them over.

“Hey,” said Harry, kissing Hermione. He noticed she had a bag, and he tried to look in it but she snatched it away.

“Ha! In your dreams Harry. Not until Wendesday!”

***

Luna sniffled. She was in the head’s common room, sitting on the couch in front of the fire. Hermione, knowing what was going on, had made everyone else leave, and had sent off to find Ron.

Speaking of him, Ron entered the common room. Luna looked up, saw that it was him, and burst into a new wave of tears.

“Luna! What’s the matter?” Ron asked, going over to sit beside her. He put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him.

“Do you like me, Ron?” she asked him.

“Of course I do, Luna, you’re like, my best friend.”

“Not like that! I mean, like like.”

“Oh…” Ron said, blushing a bit even though she couldn’t see his face. “I um…well…” he paused and took a deep breath. “Luna, would you go to the Christmas Ball with me?”

Luna lifted her head. “Really?” she whispered.

“Really.” Said Ron. Luna nodded, grinning, and Ron grinned back. Then, seeing as it seemed like a good enough time as any, he leaned forward and kissed her.

***

Neville found Theia sitting in a corner in the library. He cleared his throat, and she looked up, and smiled. “Oh. Hi, Neville!”

He was really no good at this at all. “Hey…um, Theia, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to the ball with me?”

“Oh, Neville, I’d love to!” she beamed.

“Great,” he smiled. He wasn’t nervous any more. “I’ll let you get back to your book then. See you,” he waved and walked off.

“Bye, Neville,” Theia waved to him.

***

No one could wait for the Christmas Ball.

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A/N: Just for you, Lizzie, I'm posting now. This chapter is going to be sooo long!! Three parts to it! So without further ado, here's part one! Please review!

Chapter Ten, Part One: The Christmas Ball

The heads had left everything to the prefects. This was a test for them, to see who would do best. They did, after all, have a hand in choosing the next heads.

Even though they had decided not to, Hermione and Adiana couldn’t help but look in on the decoration of the Great Hall. It looked simply fantastic. Well, Brianna was in charge, right? So why wouldn’t it?

They walked back to their rooms, giggling about how amazing the Great Hall looked, and about how surprised everyone would be.

They went into Adiana’s room, which was bigger than Hermione’s. Luna, Ginny, and Theia were there, painting their nails. Hermione and Adiana sat down with them and started picking their colours.

“We just saw Bri,” said Hermione, “she said she’d be done in like, 20 minutes and that she’d meet us here.” Hermione pulled out her French manicure set.

“Oh, good. It’s not as much fun if we’re not all here,” said Ginny. Her nails were already done, so she began to paint Adiana’s with the same shade of red that was on her dress.

***

“I can’t believe they’re in there already!” said Ron as he, Harry, and Adrian entered the common room. They were going to play some Exploding Snaps before they had to get ready for the ball. Ron got down on his knees in front of the couch and began searching under the cushions for a pack of Exploding Snaps cards.

“They’re girls, what do you expect?” said Adrian in his funny accent.

“I tell you, I’ll never get over how weird your accent is,” stated Ron as he rummaged around. “AHA!” He pulled out a pack of cards.

“I could say the same to you,” Adrian laughed, taking the deck from Ron.

***

Twenty minutes later, Brianna walked in. The girls had all showered (Luna, Theia, and Ginny having done so before they came to Adiana’s room) and had painted their nails. They wanted to wait for Brianna before doing their hair and makeup, and putting on their dresses.

Brianna growled at them all when they said hi to her, and made her way to the bathroom. When she came out, she was smiling. Clearly, the shower had made her happy.

***

“I think we should go and get ready now,” said Harry. They had played four games of exploding snaps, and he didn’t want to be late for Hermione.

“Oh alright,” said Ron reluctantly.

“Hey, don’t you want to look good for Luna?” Harry teased. Adriana laughed as Ron grabbed a pillow and hit Harry continuously over the head with it.

***

Neville was dressed, his hair was combed nicely, his teeth were brushed…and now all he had to do was wait. He sat nervously on his four-poster bed in the seventh year’s boy’s dormitory in Gryffindor tower, fiddling with a pillow.

What if Theia stood him up? Would he go alone, and maybe find another date? Or would he come back here, and stay the night by himself? He liked her so much…he couldn’t bear if she didn’t show up…or worse, if she showed up with someone else.

He looked at the clock on his bedside table. 6:15, it read. It was time to go.

***

“Okay…DONE!” cried Ginny as she pinned the last piece of Luna’s hair with a bobby pin. It was half up, half down, and in the most perfect ringlets.

“Okay, guys, let’s go! I can hear the boys outside!” Adiana whisper-shouted, her ear pressed against the door.

They girls hurried out of Adiana’s room and entered…a deserted common room?

“They must have just left,” Hermione said. “Common, let’s go.”

They walked down to the Entrance Hall, passing gorgeous looking girls and very handsome looking guys.

“Oh, there’s Adrian! ADRIAN!” Adiana called to him, over the crowed. He turned to look at her, and smiled hugely as she ran over and gave him a hug. He picked her up and twirled her around.

Hermione smiled at them, and searched the crowds for Harry. Just as she was about to turn the corner to go down the steps to the hall leading to the Great Hall, a pair of hands covered her eyes.

“Guess who?” said someone with very big hands and a very thick Bulgarian accent.

Hermione giggled and blushed, reaching up to gently pull the hands away from her eyes. “Hello, Viktor!” she smiled, turning around to look him in the eyes. He still held her hand, and he brought it up to his lips and kissed it, never breaking eye contact with her.

“Hello, Herm-own-ninny,” he said.

“Um, you’ll have to excuse me, Viktor, I’m looking for Harry.”

“That’s all right. But vould you allow me to dance vith you? Just for one dance, is all.”

“Oh, um, of course. Yeah, sure,” Hermione said absentmindedly, her eyes scanning the hall for Harry. Her face lit up when she spotted him, and she left Viktor without another word.

“Harry!” she smiled at him, taking his hand and kissing him on the lips.

“Wow, Hermione, you look…” He looked her up and down, taking in the lowness of the neckline of her dress, the way it hugged her curves and then fanned out. “…absolutely beautiful, he finished.

Hermione giggle. “Well, you don’t look to shabby yourself!”

“Shall we?” Harry offered her his arm.

“We shall!” Hermione took his arm and he led her into the Great Hall.

***

“BOO!” cried a voice from behind her.

Brianna let out a scream and turned around. “NATHAN!” she yelled at her fellow sixth year prefect, slapping his arm while trying to keep a straight face.

He laughed at her and kissed her cheek. “Let’s go in,” Nathan said, taking her hands and dragging her into the Great Hall. Brianna looked back at Theia, Luna, Ginny, and Dean, who had just joined them, and rolled her eyes.

Ginny took Dean’s arm and followed them in, leaving Theia and Luna to look for their dates.

“Oh! There’s Neville!” Theia said. “See you inside, Luna!” she called to Luna as she made her way over to her date. Neville smiled at her when he noticed her, and together they went into the Great Hall.

***

Ron noticed Luna, standing there by herself now that Theia and Neville had just left her. They were some of the only ones left in the Entrance Hall. He smiled to himself when he noticed how bright her dress was, and went over.

“Hey,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She turned around, a smile lighting up her face. “Hey!” she hugged him quickly. “Common, everyone is already in there!” Luna pulled him into the Great Hall, and soon enough, they found their friends dancing on the dance floor to “Do the Hippogriff” by the Weird Sisters.

***

Everyone was having a good time.

__________________* check out my Harry/Hermione story: Being With You **